The program designed to help people affected by Canada’s 7.1 per cent total unemployment rate is tightening its guidelines, according to a report from the federal government’s spending watchdog. While these guidelines are changing, government groups are developing new systems to try and find ways to prevent overpayment and fraud. More than $578 million in employment insurance over-payments or ineligible payments went out last year, and according to a recent report from the Auditor General of Canada, only about $295 million are anticipated in repayments.

The Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) is responsible for employment insurance benefits and currently, they are working on a plan to not only get a return on over-payments already made, but also to prevent them in the future. Applicants receiving employment insurance receive 55 per cent of their yearly income, as determined by their records of employment.The former HRSDC minister and MP Diane Finley released the department’s plans for reform in April of this year outlining how the program will continue to improve its efficiency and timeliness when granting EI benefits to applicants in need.

Currently, over-payments account for about 5 per cent of all of the funds that employment insurance puts out throughout the year, with a total spend of $16.8 billion in benefits payments in the 2011-2012 year. In order to lessen potential loss to Employment insurance benefits, Auditor General Michael Ferguson, asks the department to use more of its available information to help in identifying over-payments.

The priority of the Human Resources and Skills Development department is to continue to offer relief to people affected by unemployment, with efforts focusing on limiting the chance for over-payments and fraud.

Investigator manual leaked

After a manual for investigators of EI responsible for detecting fraud was leaked in February, Finley faced questioning in the House of Commons, stating that what were reported as quotas to find $500,000 in fraud payments detected annually, were only targets. Since the leak, the NDP has been arguing against the Conservative methods of finding ineligible EI claims, stating that the audits as part of a new pilot program to seek out fraud including knocking on doors and checking personal documents. This pilot program has been met with a lot of scrutiny from government opposition as well as from Canadians. The program is not confirmed by the government and is not outlined in the HRDSC’s plan for reform. “The Conservatives have launched a witch-hunt against unemployed Canadians – sending EI inspectors on house calls and forcing investigators to meet quotas for cutting people off of their benefits,” said Heather Finn, a spokesperson for MP Chris Charlton.

Part of the new plans for the development of the program is focusing efforts on detecting and preventing fraud, while still providing benefits to those in need. As the NDP and the Conservatives argue over what is fraud and what is a mistake, it shows that the system for paying EI benefits is not perfect yet. While the NDP insist that providing staff to help applicants fill out paperwork correctly is the answer, the Conservatives are cutting staff and moving employment records online.

Workforce under change

In a March 4th, 2013 question period in the House of Commons, MP Diane Finley told the Speaker of the House about Service Canada’s responsibility to stop any and all irresponsible claims. Also in her 2013-14 report plan outline, the importance of efficiency and fast response to claims is outlined, but as of May 31, 2013 the government issued notices that 21,734 members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada that they might lose their jobs in the next three years. The Conservative party is continuing in efforts to make faster approval of employment insurance applications, while also catching over-payments and fraud before they can happen. At the same time, they are investing in a computer-based approval system, to streamline the process and put out more resources without having to hire on more staff.

3863 of the public service workers that were issued work force amendment notices were employees in the Human Resources and Skills Development department. “The Department (HRDSC) is the hardest hit by ‘affected’ notices with 3863 positions potentially on the block,” said Heather Finn via email.

Technological Improvements

Technology is a big part of the department’s moves to online, and faster response time, with new system to be used by both employers and employees. The audit report shows that the department already uses automated programs, and with the new online format, more information will be available for assessments. At the moment, no new information is available about the status of employment insurance or the department since May 31, but according to Heather Finn, cuts to processing staff has slowed down the processing of EI claims.

Diane Finley’s office was unavailable for reply, but in the HRDSC’s report for the coming year, a new automated system of processing applications is discussed. The system will take the employment records necessary for an online EI claim, and use it to help employers keep more accurate records of their weekly payroll and employee hours. The plan for the improvements to be made to the department is estimated for June 30, 2014.

The Ontario government has yet to address ‘overspending’ on services for troubled teens.  According to the most recent auditor general’s report, spending by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services has increased by 30 per cent in the past five years, but the number of youth helped has only gone up by 5 per cent.

Unjust distribution of funds

The Ministry of Children and Youth Services aims to help youth integrate into their communities and turn away from crime. They offer a variety of services from summer job search workshops to drug counseling to detention centers for youth in trouble with the law. The programs are offered at several different centers across the province. Some of the centers are directly operated by the ministry while others are given government funding but operated independently, the latter are called transfer-payment centers.

Both the government centers and those that are independent are authorized to offer the same programming.  The programs requiring the most staff are the secure residential programs. The staff working in these programs take care of teens who are in trouble with the law and need to be watched 24 hours a day. The secure services are operated in the same way in both government and independent centers. However the ministry directly operates two thirds of the secure residential beds, yet it receives three-quarters of the government funding in this area. This means that the transfer-payment centers are working with less money to provide the same services

That isn’t the only area where there is a discrepancy in funds. There are no standard procedures for how funding for a program is decided. If there were, it would be easy to decide how much money to give a center, they would know how much it cost per youth per day per program, and then they would multiply this number by the number of youth in a program to show how much money they need form the ministry. Instead, the ministry decides funding on a case by case basis. This leaves funds being divided unjustly. For example, the ministry approved $107,000 in funding for a program at one center and gave another center $165,000 for running to exact same program for the same number of youth.
 

Facilities are underused and overstaffed

The report also found that only 60 per cent of the secure beds available are being used. Staff levels should reflect this, but instead all facilities are staffed as if they are at capacity. The centers actually now spend 50 per cent more on staff than they did five years ago. The auditor general attempted to find a reason for this by inspecting the workload of the staff. The auditor discovered that staff were actually taking on fewer cases. This means that while the amount spent on staff and the number of staff increased, the amount of work each person does has decreased.

In its plans for 2011/12, the Ontario government stated that it would continue to fund thousands of secure beds in the residential programs. There is no mention of the successes or shortcomings of the program in the previous year(s). Shortly after this briefing was released, the auditor general found that the number of beds, staff, and even centers, were potentially unnecessary.

Recommendations received, no changes yet

The ministry of youth services is divided into four regions. Randy Sandvick is the regional manager of youth services in the northern region. He explained that it is a positive sign that fewer youth are using the programs because it means they are committing fewer crimes. When asked about the reason for the staff increase, he said that the ministry is offering more programs. He emphasized that the ministry is using innovative programs to help youth. This still does not address the need for extra staff, as the existing surplus staff were not transferred to these programs, instead new staff were hired. Sandvick refused to comment on whether there was too much or too little work for staff, instead he said that legislation requires each center to have a specific number of staff and that centers in his region follow this protocol. There has been no downsizing of staff or centers in Sandvick’s region in the past year.

The ministry accepted some of the auditor general’s suggestions. Primarily, the ministry agreed to perform a three-year study on the effectiveness of programs and to adjust funding accordingly. This report came out over six months ago and so far, the ministry has not made any changes. No facilities have been closed or downsized and rather than changing or eliminating some programs, the ministry has instead added more programs and staff. Taxpayer dollars are still being spent on half-empty facilities and employees that aren’t fulfilling minimum workload expectations.